Thanksliving

My parents had their 50th Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday. To celebrate, they did what they always do and spent the day hanging out. Shopping, a movie, and dinner out was good enough for Mom and Dad.

What I love about my parents is their romance and how obvious it is to everyone who knows them. Even Liam recognized it when he was just 9. We went to family counseling and one of his tasks was to select a figurine to represent each family member.

Liam chose a 1950's looking wedding topper 'because Mimi and Grandad are so in love.'

Oh, yeah. I cried.

Mom and Dad met at a party at my aunt's house.

*My Dad filled me in on the fuzzy details: "The First Date was not a party. Julie's brother-in-law asked me if I would go on a blind date. I lived across the street. I said no blind dates but Julie's sister made him come back with a better offer. The drive-in theater and they would buy the beer. After the movie we stayed outside talking until about 3 a.m."

They fell in love on their first date. Seriously. I think they talked about marriage immediately.

Mom was finishing her time in the Air Force while living on base in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dad had recently gotten out of the Navy and was working for a little company called IBM here in Lexington. He drove down on weekends as soon as he got off work.

Twelve hours later he was with my mother. Dad told me he once drove so fast that his tires were beginning to melt. I believe him because he still drives that fast.

They married November 26, 1969. Mom was out of the service in March and moved to Lexington with Dad. They lived on fried hamburgers and cooked apples.

Knowing my parent's history gives me this realization: I come from people who make it work.

Everything in my life makes sense in the light of their history. Of course I say yes to hard things. I come from people who don't believe in the easy way.

I'm thankful for their tenacity. Seriously, coming from people who said yes to Hard Things because they believe that love conquers all has gotten me through some hard @#$%.

Mom and Dad understand that life isn't about being easy. They learned quickly that it's hard. They suffered greatly and still came out on the other side.

Granted, the other side found them quite changed. So you know what they did? They adapted and kept living & loving people anyway.

Also, they kept going out for dates. Ice cream dates, walk around the neighborhood dates, and drives in the country. and just enjoying one another's company. They bickered, of course, too. No marriage can escape that.

At least not a good marriage.

My big take away from my parents marriage is not that they love each other in spite of their individual quirks, but they appear to love each other because of their individual quirks.

Dad might roll his eyes over Mom's ability to be late no matter how early she wakes up, and Mom might cringe over one more project that Dad has going, but they also love each other for those traits. They love the whole package.

Mom and Dad don't say mean things about each other, and they don't hold grudges. They laugh at themselves and don't take life too seriously. They're generally up for doing anything.

Except getting another dog. I think we're all in agreement there.

I love that my parents celebrate so close to Thanksgiving. Partly because it helps me to remember the date, but also because they're all about #thanksliving.

So, Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. Sorry it's a week late. I forgot to hit publish when I was done.